JTA
By JTA
-
Fast Forward British Belz Hasidim Bar Women From Driving
The Hasidic Belz sect of Britain has barred women members from driving. A letter sent out last week by the sect’s rabbinic leaders said that allowing women to drive goes against “the traditional rules of modesty in our camp,” the Jewish Chronicle reported Thursday. The letter also said that as of August students would not…
-
Fast Forward George Washington Reverses Suspension of Swastika Student
George Washington University has canceled the suspension of a student who displayed a swastika on the bulletin board of a campus dormitory. The student, a member of the predominantly Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Tau, said he had hung the swastika in order to educate his fellow students about the symbol’s meaning of auspiciousness and good…
-
Fast Forward Natalie Portman Tells Harvard Grads Inexperience Is Virtue
Actress Natalie Portman told Harvard University seniors to use their inexperience as an asset in their future endeavors. Portman spoke Wednesday at Harvard Class Day, telling the students that the honor was intimidating, the Boston Globe reported. Portman is a 2003 graduate of Harvard, with a degree in psychology. The actress, who has dual American…
-
Fast Forward Dutch Government Denounces Anti-Israel Textbook
The Dutch education ministry distanced itself from a textbook that contained statements deemed anti-Israeli. The ministry’s statement on the book followed complaints by Jewish students and parents over the description in the book of Israel’s establishment as the result of widespread murder of Palestinian villagers. It also questioned Israeli former Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s credentials…
-
Fast Forward John Kerry Will Address AJC Conference
Secretary of State John Kerry will address the American Jewish Committee’s annual Washington conference just weeks before a deadline on an Iran nuclear deal. The AJC on Wednesday posted on Twitter its announcement that Kerry would be addressing its June 7-9 Global Forum. Kerry last spoke to the AJC Global Forum in June 2013, when…
-
Fast Forward Record-Breaking Heat Wave Scorches Israel
A record-breaking heat wave in Israel has sparked forest fires, caused flight delays and prompted a sharp increase in reported cases of dehydration and fainting. Temperatures reached 102 degrees in Tel Aviv, 104 in Haifa and 98 in Jerusalem on Wednesday. A forest fire broke out near the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Shemesh, requiring the…
-
Fast Forward Byron Sherwin, Noted Chicago Rabbi, Dies at 69
Rabbi Byron Sherwin, a Jewish scholar and ethicist who served on the faculty of Chicago’s Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership for more than 40 years, has died. Sherwin died on May 22 at the age of 69 following a long illness. He served as Distinguished Service Professor and Director of Doctoral Programs at…
-
Fast Forward Hungary Man Busted for ‘Dirty Jew’ Jibe at Diplomat
A Hungarian citizen was arrested in Budapest after shouting anti-Semitic curses at an Israeli diplomat. The man, a resident of Budapest, began shouting anti-Semitic invective in Hungarian after hearing Israel’s Consul to Hungary Motti Rave quietly speaking Hebrew with a companion, the Israeli news website Ynet reported. “Dirty Jews – it’s a shame Hitler didn’t…
Explore
Most Popular
In Case You Missed It
-
Film & TV How Jon Stewart evolved on Israel — at least on ‘The Daily Show’
-
Yiddish אלי שאַרפֿשטיינס סאָוועטישע נאָך־מלחמהדיקע ליטע רעדט אויף ייִדישEli Sharfstein’s Soviet post-war Lithuania speaks Yiddish
די דערציילונגען אין „מײַן ווילנער זאַוווּליק“ שילדערן דאָס ייִדישע לעבן אינעם נאָכמלחמהדיקן ראַטן־פֿאַרבאַנד פֿון אַ פּערזענלעכן קוקווינקל.
-
Culture A voice for his generation, Tom Lehrer found laughter even in the most sensitive aspects of Jewish life and history
-
Fast Forward ‘I was first and foremost Jewish,’ said Wesley LePatner, killed in NYC shooting
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
